The day had ended and the sun began to set on the Martian surface. The base's lights around its perimeter and at the gates were lit for the security forces stationed there to perform night watch. After conducting a patrol of the outer Tharsis region and killing several Class B Xenos, Jin had been taking the time to relax.
He had been in the base's gym working out with with Nio, Takeo, Haru, and Alexei. Like Nio Haru was an Astrean and a member of the joint strike force. A speaker had been playing music from back on Earth on his bench beside him. A series of Japanese pop and rock songs.
Due to Mars being an extreme distance away from Earth, instant communication was rendered nearly impossible when humanity first began to set foot on the red planet. To amend this, Norio had an extensive network of deep space satellites around Mars's orbit and beyond in order to send and receive transmissions to and from Earth at much faster rates. Because of this, Norio pilots stationed on Mars were able to get news, media, and music back on Earth. As well as orders from command.
As Jin finished his final set of weight lifts he sat up straight and wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, and continued his talk to the others.
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The four pilots laughed.
"." Alexei said.
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Jin's narrowed his eyes as he remembered his troubled past before he met his mother. The others had comforted him instantly.
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Jin looked up at his squad captain and smirked.
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The young men had soon left the gym area and were halted by an Astrean military officer dressed in a blue military camo uniform, the logo of the Astrean-Human Joint Strike Force on his shoulder. Jin and the others saluted the moment they saw his rank and symbol.
While Jin was a fighter pilot for Norio and not at all a part of the Astrean military, as a member of the joint strike force he was required to obey and salute all superiors within the unit. Regardless of their species.
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***
The bomber flew at a middle speed as it was escorted by Demon Squadron, the ground below covered in a Martian dust storm that had been raging since the operation began. Jin's objective was simple, escort the bomber to the sight in which they'll drop their ordinance on the lifeform emitting the virus.
The Asuka Virus. The extraterrestrial plague that came with the aftermath of The Spreading in 2036 which only began to take its hold on the world in 2037. A deadly disease with flu-like symptoms which started in Japan before spreading to the rest of the world.
At the time the World Health Organization didn't adopt an official name for it due to how unknown and foreign it was, therefore it was named after its first known victim. Asuka Sumeragi.
While infectious diseases of the past existed there were eclipsed by the toll the Asuka virus took on Earth, taking over 600 million lives in just two years. While humanity was far more advanced in the fields of medicine and technology the virus still existed, and would appear and re-appear in Japan and other parts of the world every few decades. It's more recent revival beginning in October 2131 with the source now known.
According to command, the source was on Mars and took the form of a sort of pod-like structure, able to emit spores containing the virus. These spores would float higher and higher until they eventually reached the vacuum of space and from there, would make their way towards the Earth over the course of months. But this pod was apparently only one of many, but for the time being it was Jin's job to destroy it.
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Jin looked at the message he received from Emma back on Earth, along with a photo of her wearing her dive suit around her waist and sitting on the edge of a boat alongside the rest of her commission. He replied with a simple heart emoji.
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Jin's radar then began to detect something far ahead of them, after assuming control of the jet a stream of red energy shot by his aircrafts wing. Demon Squadron then went on full alert as they raised altitude and saw their target before them. Sticking out of the Martian soil was an egg-like pod with vine-like tentacles emerging from its underside. A red aura of light flowed through its veins and it was surrounded by Xenos.
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"." Nio replied. "
The Xenos had caught sight of Demon Squadron and Jin went into full defensive mode, separating from the bomber he climb into the air and gave chase to one Xeno flying off from the battlespace. After shooting it out of the sky Jin drifted his aircraft left and flew back towards the bomber which was now being attacked.
One creature had managed to sink its claws into the nose of the aircraft and was slowly burrowing its razor sharp tendrils into the body of the plane, fortunately the pilots on board activated the planes electric shock and caused the Xeno to fall to the surface below. Jin zipped by the bomber once again and locked onto another creature. His HUD tracking its every turn and maneuver.
"Got you." he said to himself as he fired a missile. Or so he thought.
The Xeno had activated a pulse field around its body causing the missile to explode midair once it came into contact with the barrier. Angrily Jin pounded his canopy glass and converged onto the others.
"Черт возьми!! (Damnit!!)" Jin shouted. "Почему мне никогда не везет с этими вещами (Why can I never seem to get lucky with these things?)"
Takeo had emerged from the clouds above and reigned down a set of missiles on the Xeno Jin failed to kill.
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Jin chuckled. "
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By now the bomber was over the designated attack target and its crew were already preparing to drop the weapon. The heavy bay doors beneath the plane opened letting out the pressurized air from the inside. Emerging from the bottom was the cylindrical bomb that would destroy the target below.
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The bomber released its weapons and it fell towards the surface below, right onto the chrysalis that continued to emit spores of the deadly virus. Jin and the others began to escort the bomber away from the blast zone as the payload slowly made its way towards the ground below. After several moments it's impact was immediate as a planet shaking explosion was heard followed by the formation of a mushroom cloud. The chrysalis below exploding into thousand of pieces and the Xenos within the airspace being blown away by the force of the bomb.
Demon Squadron was luckily just outside the blast radius and while they did feel some of the shock coming from the weapon, it wasn't too much to affect their control over their aircraft. When the vibrations had settled the Xenos around them had all but fallen out of the sky. Silence soon fell upon the battle space with the faint roar of the bomb filling the squadrons comms channel.
Jin lowered his EX-35's speed and came to a halt as he went into hover mode, disengaging his weapons and removing his helmet to breath for a moment. He had won another victory and was able to let his guard down, looking into the Martian sky he could feel the anxiety in his chest slowly fade away. The overflowing suspense and anger was now all but a mere afterthought.
He contacted the bomber to see if they were okay, to which they replied that they were already heading back to base.
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***
The sun had set for the day and Demon Squadron had been celebrating their victory inside one of the lobby buildings of the base. All except for Jin who was inside one of the hangars outside and sitting in the cockpit of his motionless jet, the canopy wide open and the entire room was completely empty except for him.
He'd been dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, talking with Emma back on Earth through a holo video projected by his tablet. She had been inside her house and wearing a kimono.
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Emma laughed. "
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Emma blushed. "
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Jin's lips curved into a smile as he replied. "Soon babe. I know. I miss you too. I'm hearing that our time here on Mars is almost up for another joint strike force squadron to take our spots, so I'll be back soon."
Emma then flashed Jin a smile as she was relieved to hear those words. The two spoke for a few more minutes before deciding to call it a night, Jin promising that he'd be back as soon as he could.
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The two waved goodbye before the video ended. Jin looked up into the Martian night sky at a bright tiny dot in the distance. That dot being the Earth.
"I should take her to Moscow when I get back." he said to himself before heading out for bed.